28Nov2013

Thanksgiving day

Today is Christian Thanksgiving day. For them, it is a day to express their gratitude towards their God in a general way. Most historians agree that the origins are manifestations of gratefulness for a good harvest.

In this sense, Thanksgiving is quite universal: most religions have thanksgiving rituals if not a special holiday.

A lot has been written about gratitude, gratefulness and appreciation, but only recently has it been the object of study. The feeling of gratitude, instead of indebtedness and guilt, is a powerful source of all sorts of good behaviors. Behaviors that benefit the grateful and the community at large.

Brushing the holistic crap aside, it is actually powerful: although there is no possible way to quantify sources of things to be grateful for versus things to be resentful for, it is possible to consciously focus on the stuff that can trigger this emotion. Not force it: just making a quick mental inventory is enough.

I am incredibly grateful for having powerlifting in my life – in fact, there wouldn’t be any life if there wasn’t powerlifting in it. Whom to (be grateful for)? It doesn’t matter: that’s the beauty of it. The universe, the gods, the Olympic bar and plates, my friends – it makes no difference.

What matters is that if you feel grateful, it is almost instinctive to pass it on.
Sometimes people come to me or write saying they are grateful for what I did, meaning teaching them something about powerlifting. Quite often I reply “I didn’t do anything”. On a second thought, maybe I did. Maybe I’m passing it on.